Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004)

"When I made the decision in 1959 that I was not going to be an abstract painter; that I was going to be a representational painter...I only got started by doing the opposite of everything I loved. And in choosing representational painting, I decided to do, as my subject matter, the history of art: I would do nudes, still-lifes, landscapes, interiors, portraits, etc..." Tom Wesselmann

(M. Livingstone, "Tom Wesselmann: Telling It Like It Is,” exh. cat., Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art, Tom Wesselmann; A Retrospective Survey 1969-1992, 1993, p. 21)